Buckling under pressure from different quarters, the Uttarakhand government today cancelled the allotment of controversial hydel projects to various companies.
The state government in a statement said that the letters of award issued to different companies for setting up hydel projects have now become "redundant".
Also, the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam (UJVNL), the nodal agency for the allotment of hydel projects, has been asked to modify the advertisement of July 25,2008 under which the bids for self-identified projects were invited.
A new advertisement would soon be published in the media inviting fresh bids under the self-identified route, the government said in the statement.
The opposition parties led by Congress have been seeking a CBI probe into the manner in which the government allotted these hydel projects to various companies, including liquor company, Punjab Distilleries.
It was alleged that some of the companies were purposely floated to grab the state hydel projects and that the government had not verified their antecedents before awarding the contracts.
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Besides, in some cases, an individual person or company was awarded more than three projects under different names in violation of the state's 2008 power policy.
The government has admitted to flaws in the July 25,2008 ad, a move that puts the entire blame on the then Chief Minister B C Khanduri.